Houghton County is moving quickly to gather construction cost estimates for a new jail, with an August ballot deadline driving an aggressive summer timeline.
At a special meeting Thursday, the Houghton County Commission directed the jail committee to begin planning an industry day tentatively set for July 15. The open event would invite construction firms to learn about the county’s vision for a new justice center and submit rough order of magnitude (ROM) cost estimates in the weeks that follow. Jail Committee Co-chair Faith Morrison said the informal format is designed to cast a wide net.
“One of our members, Justin LaCosse, was suggesting that something like an industry day would allow an informal meeting in an open sense with contractors that choose to join us, not select contractors, but openly invite folks who are interested,” Morrison said. “It would be open to the public, discuss the project, explain the design-build process and get to a point where we could understand how that could be moved forward in the county.”
Morrison acknowledged the committee is navigating unfamiliar territory.
“We are not contractors and we’re not familiar with the design-build process,” she said.
The county hopes to use findings from previous jail planning efforts to help direct firms on what the new facility will require. A 2025 project assessment envisioned a facility with a capacity near 50 individuals. The new justice center would house the jail, the sheriff’s office and space for the court to conduct arraignment hearings. Houghton County Sheriff Saraanen noted that determining bed count is straightforward. It’s the additional facility needs where costs can escalate. Time is the county’s most pressing constraint. Morrison outlined the tight window between the industry day and the ballot filing deadline.
“We’re thinking the earliest and latest it could be is something like July 15th, because there needs to be time to gather participants and figure out what the industry day would look like,” she said. “The deliverable from the industry day would be something like a rough order of magnitude explanation coming from individual firms of how much they thought they could build the facility for. And the reason for all of this rush is because if there’s to be a millage put on the November ballot, it has to be filed by August 11th at 4 p.m.”
Houghton County is not alone in addressing aging jail infrastructure. Several Upper Peninsula counties have either upgraded existing facilities or pursued improvements in recent years. Commission Chair Tom Tikkanen has intended for Houghton County ask voters to consider the jail issue since the Jail Committee was reformed in 2025.
The Houghton County Jail Committee meets Monday, June 29th, at 4 p.m. to begin planning the July industry day. For more details on upcoming meetings, visit Houghton County online.
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Houghton County Jail Committee update June 25th, 2026:
At the June 9, 2026 Jail Committee Meeting the main topic was discussion with Andrew Kemper from Moyle Construction. Kemper said that when Moyle is working with their private-sector clients, the most cost-effective arrangement is the design/build system. In this arrangement the client can save on administrative costs that are otherwise present when a general contractor subcontracts parts of the job. In design/build the general contractor works with preferred subcontractors and arranges the financing and
that is also a source of income for them. Kemper said that, increasingly, local and regional school systems, highway departments and local road commissions are realizing the advantages of the design/build system.
There were some discussions about the source and magnitude of the cost savings that Kemper mentioned and a lively back and forth between the committee members and Kemper. The committee passed a resolution as a recommendation to the Board of Commissioners as follows “that the Jail Committee supports the county board seeking more information on a design/build pathway, information on leaseback arrangements, information on the process for such collaborations, and what steps are appropriate for the county to pursue appropriate due diligence in committing public funds for the jail through these pathways.” Kemper had noted that Moyle needs the County’s audited financial statements from 2025 in order to give a cost estimate; the audited statements are estimated to be available in two weeks. Moyle will need another two weeks to work up their estimate.
At the June 9, 2026 County Board Regular Meeting the only discussion of the jail project was the report on the events of the June 9, 2026 meeting of the Jail Committee (above) and a reading of the recommendation that passed (above).
At the June 23, 2026 Jail Committee Meeting (chaired by Faith Morrison) member Tom Tikkanen reported that he had been contacted by email by Dan Leveque, the president emeritus of Gundlach Champion, about their interest in the jail construction job. Tikkanen invited Gundlach Champion to send a representative to the Jail Committee meeting, but due to a time conflict, no one was present. Tikkanen reported that the County Board is meeting Thursday June 25 at 11am to hold a special meeting to discuss some grant business and that he had asked that the jail project be added to the agenda as well. Tikkanen said that the County Board needs some direction in terms of where to go from here, for example, how to reach out to other contractors. Faith Morrison noted that the Jail Committee had recommended input from local firms in the form of an “Industry Day.” Justin LaCosse, who had brought this idea to the Jail Committee, spoke on it and said that what could result from an Industry Day would be a ROM (rough order estimate) and an exchange of views on the project and how it could be structured with the contractors. The ROMs that come from the Industry Day exercise could lead to discussions of where the costs were and thereby the project could be modified to save cost while achieving the county’s goals.
Morrison spoke several times about “million-dollar” engineering work in the conventional path, since the committee had been made to understand that full engineering bid documents would cost between $1 million and $2 million dollars if contracted for in the usual way. The committee sought to understand the
design/build process and to compare it to the conventional process and to determine the differences between the two, both in terms of costs, but also in terms of what is delivered and how. The committee remains concerned that the process be open, as all public works projects must be, and be awarded fairly and legally.
The discussion ranged on a variety of topics with the committee members seeking to both understand what the options were and also how the various choices impacted the public’s perception and attitude towards paying for a new jail. Tikkanen expressed that there will always be those who are opposed to the jail project, and there was agreement on this. Although Tikkanen and some others present needed to leave the meeting early, the discussion proceeded with an urgency born of the looming deadline for getting a jail millage on the November 3 ballot (deadline is 4pm August 11).
The group focused on millage language, seeking to find a way to present the jail, the need for the jail, and the need for funds for the jail, to the public. They focused in on telling the public “What you will get if you vote yes for a jail millage.” This led to an exercise in which those present, in a brainstorming mode, listed what amounted to 28 aspects of the jail that would be attached to the new build.
The second thing the group focused on was following up on the Industry Day idea, putting down dates and a timeline towards having such a day in mid-July. The County Board would need to vote to initiate the Industry Day idea, and the committee agreed that the special Board meeting on Thursday June 25would be the only time for them to do so. Once Industry Day has been authorized by the Board, several meetings of the Jail Committee would take place and there would be a back and forth with the Board, then the Industry Day would take place, the Board would get feedback from that process, and then the Board could craft millage language and put the millage before the public.
As they closed the meeting, the Committee set its own meeting dates that would work with the plan they had sketched out, and Morrison committed to getting the summary of the discussion to Tikkanen and Janssen to bring to the Board on Thursday at the special meeting.
Upcoming meetings:
(Open to the public; online credentials at houghtoncounty.net)
6/25/2026 County Board Special Meeting, 11am (5th floor)
6/29/2026 Jail Committee Meeting, 4pm (5th floor)
7/6/2026 County Board Regular Work Session—Devoted to the jail, 10am (5th floor)
7/7/2026 Jail Committee Meeting, 4pm (5th floor)
7/14/2026 County Board Regular Meeting, 6pm (3rd floor courtroom
